Second take

Tom Brady: six-time Super Bowl Champion, four-time Super Bowl MVP, three-time League MVP, 14-time Pro Bowl selection, three-time First-team All-Pro, two-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year. His list of achievements and honors goes on and on, but is he really the Greatest Football Player of All Time (G.O.A.T.)?

Charlie's take

I despise Tom Brady just as much as the next person. I have never rooted for him or his New England Patriots to win. Having been raised in San Francisco, I was supplied with Joe Montana highlight reels from a young age. It was impossible for me to imagine any quarterback more dominant or skillful than “Golden Joe.” However, as my knowledge of football grew, it became more and more difficult to deny the truth: “TB12” is the greatest to ever play the game.

Looking at the raw statistics is the first step in understanding why Brady is the G.O.A.T. He ranks second in career passing yards and passing touchdowns, trailing only New Orleans Saints’ legend Drew Brees. Brady ranks No. 6 all-time in passer rating and No. 16 in completion percentage. But what sets Brady apart is remarkable longevity and a decorated career of awards, accolades, and Super Bowls.

Now in his 21st season, Brady has played 290 games and will soon pass Brett Favre for the most games played by a quarterback in league history. During his lengthy career, he has collected three Most Valuable Player awards, 14 Pro Bowl selections, three First-team All-Pro selections, along with countless other honors. 

The most impressive and important of his achievements, however, are his rings. His record six Super Bowl wins and four Super Bowl MVP trophies prove his superiority over the entire NFL. In the playoffs, no other quarterback can compare to Brady. Take Brees, for example. As referenced before, Brees edges out Brady in both career passing yards and touchdowns. But Brees’ single championship and limited number of deep playoff runs suggest that his statistical success is a mere reflection of the weakness of his conference, the NFC South.

Now that I’ve incontrovertibly established that Brady is the G.O.A.T., I must address the common counter-argument that his successes can be attributed to New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Quite frankly, this is a moronic argument. Belichick had a losing record with the Cleveland Browns before becoming the Patriots head coach in 2000. After joining New England, he led the Patriots to five wins and a dismal 13 losses before Drew Bledsoe’s fateful injury and Brady’s subsequent rise to dominance as the starting quarterback. 

It’s obvious that the two enjoyed mutual success, but that does not diminish Brady’s career accomplishments. If you think Belichick’s coaching genius stains Brady’s legacy, you must also eliminate Joe Montana and Jerry Rice from the G.O.A.T. conversation, as they both benefited greatly from the legendary coach Bill Walsh and his famed “West Coast offense.” 

Once you learn to put all anti-Patriots bias aside and look at Tom Brady’s career objectively, it’s easy to conclude that Brady is the greatest football player of all time. To say otherwise is blasphemy.

Ayush's take

Football does not have a G.O.A.T. The conversation always surrounds the quarterbacks––Tom Brady, Joe Montana, and the Manning brothers to name a few. But the idea that quarterbacks are somehow more important than running backs, wide receivers, or anyone on defense is deeply flawed.

Comparing players at the quarterback position is a much more reasonable way to have the G.O.A.T. argument. But quite frankly, Tom Brady is not even the greatest quarterback of all time.  

Now, I am not going to deny that Brady is a great player. He is by far the most accomplished to play the game. Period. But Brady is a system quarterback and the product of the greatest coach of all time: Bill Belichick. 

The notion that Brady is solely responsible for the New England Patriots’ dynasty is completely and utterly false. Theoretically, if any top-15 quarterback replaced Brady in Belichick’s system, they would be more accomplished than Brady.

Statistically, Brady’s play is just above average. Even though he’s played the second-most games in quarterback history, he sits 16th all-time in completion percentage––under the likes of Kirk Cousins, Phillip Rivers, Derek Carr, and Matt Shaub. Brady does not lead a single major individual statistical category. He was not the factor that led to the Patriots’ long list of success. As a matter of fact, Brady’s mediocrity hindered the potential of Belichick’s reign.

Brady’s style of play is nothing to marvel at. Over the course of almost 300 games played in the NFL, he has mastered the art of the checkdown. Whether it was a five-yard post to Gronkowski or a drag to Edelman, Brady was not the one making big plays and winning games during his time in New England. Theoretically, if Brady was the G.O.A.T. and was paired with a top-five wideout talent of all time, the expectation would be that he wins a Super Bowl, right? Wrong. Randy Moss and Tom Brady never won a championship. Instead, they lost to Eli Manning and the talent-starved, 10-win New York Giants in the 2012 Super Bowl. 

Pair an innately talented quarterback––the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson, for example––with Belichick’s genius and the most consistent defense this league has ever seen, and you have well more than a mere six Super Bowls in 19 seasons.